VFM hatch

Hi,

I am in the market for a new, VFM, hassle-free, petrol hatchback. I intend on keeping the vehicle for about 2-3 years.

I don't think I want to spend anything over 4L (OTR)

Vehicles that I am looking at:

Hyundai Santro Xing GL: 3,31,971/-

TATA XETA GLS: 3,07,308

Maruti WagonR LXi: 3,39,100/-

Maruti Alto Xcite: 2,86,324/-

Maruti Alto LXi: 2,72,824/-

Features that I am interested in: A/C, heater, power steering.

Power Windows, etc. would be a plus, but not so much a priority.

Priorities: Decent ride, maintenance-free/low maintenance costs, good after sales service.

I will be purchasing the vehicle in Delhi. I would also appreciate if some of you could recommend a few good dealerships for Maruti, Hyundai and TATA.

Many thanks.

Hello Jascha,

I am surprised to see Alto in your list. Also, A/C heater, PS you will get in any car. With your budget, you deserve some more value than these.

Also, I should suggest to remove Santro and add i10 magna kappa. Much better VFM.

You can consider new Estilo as well. Also if you consider WagonR, wait for few days as new k series engine is on the cards..

My preference is as follows

1. i10 Magna (kappa)

2. Chevrolet Spark

3. New Wagon R (If you like the look)

4. Estilo

I am not very much a fan of Tata cars as I heard some bad feedback about their ASS. So I excluded that from my list.

Let me add one more car to the list.Have a look here.

The Wagon R might not only be getting the new engine, there might well be a redesign in the body also.

Estilo is definitely VFM and the i10 will give sense of buying a car one class higher up. Avoid the Alto with your budget.

Unless the new Estilo looks a lot different than the existing one, it's definitely out. I just don't like how she looks.

The i10 is out of my budget. Aren't the Era and D-Lite with diesel engines?

Frankly, 4L is on the higher side.

Since I plan on keeping the vehicle for not more than 2-3 years, I don't want to shell out a lot of moolah on the new vehicle.

What hatch could be considered VFM with an OTR of 3-3.5L, with the exception of the Nano and Estilo?

Since you plan to sell-off in just 2-3 years, you also need to keep an eye on resale value.  i10 & WagonR will fetch you better resale in all probability.

@Pankaj, between the A-Star, Santro and WagonR, what would fetch me the best resale value? How does the Alto compare to the above vehicles, as far as resale value?

Considering that I plan to keep it for only a short length of time, and being on a rather tight budget, what vehicle would you recommend that would be VFM?

A-Star has not been a very successful car.  Alto & WagonR are highest selling cars.  Santro & WagonR are more or less equally good small family cars.  Santro may fetch you a little less resale (i10 has better demand & resale).

As you can afford to buy a bigger/better car than Alto, avoid it (nothing wrong otherwise).  Test-drive (with family) WagonR, Santro & also i10.

I wonder why you folks are advising to avoid the Alto. Is there something I'm missing here?

My choices are between the Alto, WagonR and Santro. Since all the 3 have more or less the same retail value, what should be other factors that I should be looking at?

The WagonR is 7K more than the Santro (because of the Central Locking feature), while there is about a 50K difference between the Alto and the WagonR/Santro. In fact, the Alto XCITE has PWs, an immobilizer and rear defogger while the WagonR (LXi) and Santro do not. The Santro comes with tubeless tires, while the Alto and WagonR do not. The WagonR and Santro both have a folding rear seat, while the Alto does not.

What do you folks think?

One among the reason to avoid alto is the ground clearance.

When Alto is fully loaded, you cant spare any speed breakers in my opinion.

GC of wagonR is slightly higher than Alto.

As stated before, avoid Alto ONLY because you can afford a bigger/better car with more space/comfort & better engine/performance. 

Alto's performance is very decent for it's size & power, and has good resale value. Other 2-3 cars discussed above, too have good resale value.  These cars have always been in demand.

Test-driving the cars (with family because of space/comfort) will make the picture more clear.